Just as easily could have titled this book "Endurance: Why psychology matters more than physiology". It is a deep dive into the history of trying to uJust as easily could have titled this book "Endurance: Why psychology matters more than physiology". It is a deep dive into the history of trying to understand endurance and where it actually comes from. Turns out many of those oft repeated athletic clichés are true. Despite attempts to measure and put limits on the capacity of the human body it's the mental state that ultimately is the most significant factor behind endurance.
People may be surprise to discover that endurance athletes still feel the same pain as everyone else when pushed to their limits, the only difference is they've learned how to control their interpretation of that pain and not be overwhelmed by it. Much like the 'governor chip' on a car that prevents it from speeding, the human brain does the same thing when it comes to energy consumption through extreme physical activity. It is engaged in a careful balancing act of the energy demands of the present vs the future. Erroring usually on the conservative side, the brain will attempt to always preserve a significant amount energy and capacity. It does this through pain, using pain and discomfort to force us to slow down, to not push as hard and to always hold something in reserve. The only way to get through this is by constant training and visualization. Through both physical and mental repetition, one is able to bypass the 'governor chip' and push themselves and their body farther and harder than they originally thought possible.
To sum it up, always be skeptical anytime someone places limits on human potential, they seem to always have a dogged determination to break them....more
Combine Ignorance with Ideology and you create a formidable adversary that is similar to a bacteria that has developed resistance to antibiotics and pCombine Ignorance with Ideology and you create a formidable adversary that is similar to a bacteria that has developed resistance to antibiotics and poses a serious threat to the well-being of the body it has infected. Humans, rarely realize how their own minds can be as easily high-jacked just like a virus on a computer and so once infected will ardently fight to resist change even when our survival depends on it.
Evolution at this point in history should be beyond dispute and yet amazingly over a hundred and fifty years since it was originally identified as the foundation of biology and life there is actually growing resistance to it. I blame this in part on the Academic community. They are only concerned with discovering truth but they don't know how to package it and sell it to everyone else. They are inexperienced in slick and clever propaganda and marketing. They also don't know how to translate their findings in such a way to make people notice and care. That means that in the fight of public opinion the ones with the loudest and cleverest voices win and in that arena the Scientific Community consistently loses. ...more
For some reason, beyond my ability to explain, I love reading books on Physics and Cosmology even though I only understand around around 30-40% of it.For some reason, beyond my ability to explain, I love reading books on Physics and Cosmology even though I only understand around around 30-40% of it. Yet I still try and I keep picking them up. I'm fascinated by the subjects and the frontiers of those fields.
This book reviews the historical evolution of the theories of Physics and Cosmology but with a specific quest to understand the nature of Time. The author contends that the way we experience time as humans isn't a universal independent constant. The author makes the case that it is instead what we are experiencing is entropy. That the transition from a Low Entropy to High entropy state is what we experience and interpret as time. ...more
This is a deeply unsettling book that challenges some core fundamental assumptions about human nature by opening up taboos for closer examination(it iThis is a deeply unsettling book that challenges some core fundamental assumptions about human nature by opening up taboos for closer examination(it is interesting me to me how 'taboo' is usually nothing more than 'something we are too scared to understand yet'). That being said, avoid reading this book if you are happy with your truths about reality.
I, however, really enjoyed this book, though not for the reasons most would assume. I am a big fan of what I dubbed "Human Behavior Origin Theory", which to me is basically understanding the foundational origins of human behavior. Having a starting point, or 'original' behavioral reference point then helps to make sense of all behavior and deviations from it. Regardless of how people want to 'moralize' human behavior, to me I find comfort in knowing that almost everything humans do is not only explainable but predictable. Now the real problem, as I see it, comes from when, as a society, there is a misunderstanding of fundamental human behavior and then trying to 'fix' said problems built upon these false assumptions, which only exacerbates the problem.
As social creatures humans thrive best in communities and thus need to be connected and engaged within that community. Isolation and alienation are the most individually corrosive and destructive forces that can slowly dismantle one's sanity and sense of well-being. So when we build up a society based on incorrect assumptions about human nature and then codify them as 'morals' we inevitably start pitting people against their own nature and then shame them for it. Shaming is how you psychologically isolate and alienate an individual from the group, whether intentional or not. Making them feel like there is something 'wrong' with them or even that they are 'evil'. This rarely succeeds in altering the behavior and instead usually destroys the individual. Ask any student of human Psychology and see how damaging warped and repressed ideas of human sexuality are and you will understand what I am talking about, is as tragic as it is almost comical. Look no further than the LGBT community and see how much one group has suffered for their 'nature'.
This is an intensely personal issue for me because I have seen the lives of many people close to me almost destroyed by this very topic. They were made to feel intense self-hatred and loathing because their nature was in conflict with their ideals or social and religious expectations. But with a better understanding of human nature we can then cast aside these judgements and see them not as some aberration or failure but simply as humans. This also helps us to keep engaged with them, prevent them from feeling alienated and help them in more effective ways and come up with creative solutions to their dilemmas.
This book opened up my eyes to what I will call a very 'plausible' explanations on the origins of human sexuality. It was almost scary in the way it so easily explains so many facets of human sexuality to make one suspect. I have read more critiques and reviews of this book than almost any other book in an attempt to find an equally plausible opposing explanation. I encourage all who read this book to make sure you include as many differing viewpoints as you can because it only adds clarity and depth to a very misunderstood aspect of human nature.
So in summary, if you want to understand Human behavior start at the beginning!
An interesting read, probably the saddest part of this book is the history of ignorance surrounding human sexuality. Even the scientific community was An interesting read, probably the saddest part of this book is the history of ignorance surrounding human sexuality. Even the scientific community was afraid to look into it and today it is still a troubled field that is underfunded and not taken seriously. Many scientists face criticism and personal attacks for even showing interest in the field.
One of the most important aspects of a book like this that summarizes many of the studies surrounding this field is clearing up many of the long held misunderstanding and incorrect assumptions about human sexuality. There are also many fascinating new discoveries that I found very interesting....more
I probably understood somewhere around 30% of the actual science of this book, which just happened to be enough to get the basic gist of what is goingI probably understood somewhere around 30% of the actual science of this book, which just happened to be enough to get the basic gist of what is going on today in physics. Of course most of the book 80% was a travelogue and history of each of the different sites where scientists are conducting experiments to uncover the problems plaguing physics today.
I am sure that magazines or even the internet would or could be a better source for more up-to-date information regarding where physics actually is today. Though this book was published in January of 2011, most of the content of this book came from 2009 thus making the material already dated. In fact this book was barely anymore insightful than Stephen Hawking's book "The History of the Universe" or "The Universe in a nutshell". In fact I can basically sum up most of the book if a few sentences
The physical Universe (or matter that we can interact with), makes up about 10% of the Universe, Dark Matter is believed to make up the next 20%, and finally the most mysterious of all Dark Energy seems to make up the final 70% of the Universe. That means that as of yet, 90% of the Universe is actual unknown to us. I of course find this the most striking aspect of the book. That despite all of the progress made by mankind that the majority of existence is still unknown. It is both humbling and awe inspiring.
It is also interesting to note how physics is coming around to ideas once thought fantastical or only in the realm of science fiction. The Multiple-Universe theory is gaining more and more credibility as it helps make the different laws of physics, including string theory work. ...more
Entertaining read, most of the so called evidence is usually 'anecdotal' or downright fraud and deception. Entertaining read, most of the so called evidence is usually 'anecdotal' or downright fraud and deception. ...more
Incredible read. Everyone knows the benefits of exercise on the muscles and heart but now studies have discovered what it does to the brain, which is Incredible read. Everyone knows the benefits of exercise on the muscles and heart but now studies have discovered what it does to the brain, which is even more impressive.
The last couple of years has had an explosion of Neuroscience books. What is even more unbelievable is that the researchers have actually decided to share what they are discovering in a way anyone can understand instead of the typical closed circle of academia.
To some extent the discoveries aren't surprising, but then it is always nice to actually have hard-evidence for something many people just intuited. With this book as well as a few others I have now adopted the paradigm of the baseline human body template being that of a stone-age hunter/gatherer. In the stages of evolution of the human body and mind we spent most of our time in that time period, with our bodies being finely tuned to that lifestyle. Now anytime we deviate too far from that active lifestyle and diet we start to experience the detrimental effects. Our sedentary easy-access-to-processed-food lifestyles are in direct contradiction to what our bodies were optimized for hence all the multitude of obvious ailments plaguing the industrialized world.
The latest studies have revealed
1) Exercise helps produce the chemicals in the brain that grow new neurons in the brain, increasing our learning aptitude.
2) Exercise regulates and balances the multitude of chemicals and hormones in our brain that directly affect our mood, specifically depression. Cognitive therapy works on depression from the pre-frontal cortex down, and anti-depressant medication works from the brain stem up, exercise attacks depression from both the top and the bottom, as well as re-wiring and re-structuring the brain, causing long-term changes.
3) It helps people with ADHD improve their ability to focus.
4) It helps anyone struggling with addiction to gain the strength, motivation to over come it.
4) Women get more for less with exercise, it helps balance all the fluctuations brought on from the different cycles of hormone levels from menstruation, pregnancy, post-postpartum, and menopause.
5) It helps old people prevent Alzheimer's, dementia, osteoporosis. As well as keeping their energy levels higher, improving their mood, and helping with their mental acuity.
All in all, if there was one silver bullet that magically possessed all humans needed to thrive and be healthy both mentally and physically exercise would be it. Our bodies and minds work best when they are moving.
This book is first and foremost a cultural myth-buster. There are so many dangerous collectively held beliefs about human potential and its limits. OnThis book is first and foremost a cultural myth-buster. There are so many dangerous collectively held beliefs about human potential and its limits. One of the greatest insults that we can say to someone who is talented is that they came by it naturally. When we label people as naturally talented, or smart it is a back-handed compliment that tries to downplay their efforts while excusing our own laziness. Everyone who is talented or gifted came by it the hard way, through dedicated hard-work. That is the thesis of this book, that according to new neuroscience research the difference between talented and mediocrity is the layers of Myelin wrapped around the neurons in the brain. This increased Myelin allows for increased "bandwidth" or speed of firing neurons. The more a neuron is fired the more insulation it demands hence the increased wrapping of myelin. Repetition is how we repeatedly fire those neurons making them faster and faster. This increased speed is what makes talented people look like everything they do is so fluid and easy. The secret to talent is focused practice with the aim of correcting mistakes one at a time. Breaking down a difficult task into its component parts and slowly learning each one until it all comes together.
To get started we all need an ignition or trigger that gives us enough forward momentum to start moving in the direction of our desired goal. These triggers can come from anywhere, but once set off it is our job to find ways to keep that fire burning because the destination is a long journey that takes time.
Effort, self-discipline and openness to feedback are the critical elements to perfecting our abilities. Failure is a teacher and friend that shouldn't be feared but seen for what it is a way of spotlighting the areas where we could use improvement.
This book helped shore up my own belief in human potential and that it rests with the individual not on luck but hard-work. Intelligence has a stronger correlation to self-discipline than IQ scores. ...more
**spoiler alert** This book comes across as a quasi-philosophical treatise on what it means to be human. Instead of looking to pure reasoning or some **spoiler alert** This book comes across as a quasi-philosophical treatise on what it means to be human. Instead of looking to pure reasoning or some spiritual theology, McDougall finds that meaning written in our body. The human body operates at maximum efficiency when it is mimicking closely what it evolved to do over thousands of years. When we stray from that template we encounter all kinds of new problems in our mental and physical health. This includes physical activity and diet which in turn has an effect on social organization.
Apparently humans are meant to be runners, it is in our biology and physiology. For a long time scientists couldn't help but focus on all the apparent weaknesses of the human body and failed to see one of the critical advantages. Compared with other animals humans do look defenseless and weak except for a few subtle differences. Running on two feet as opposed to four means that we are able to burn less energy while running, also it doesn't our bodies don't overheat as quickly. This coupled with our ability to sweat and regulate our breathing gives us an extraordinary ability to run long distances. The human body may not be very fast, but it can run, and do it for a long time. Before the advent of weapons, humans theoretically hunted by chasing their prey until the animal died from exhaustion. It appears that humans did this for an incredibly long time.
According to more and moree studies, the worst thing to happen to the world of running was the running shoe. Who would have thought that all those fancy shoes that are supposed to help us are actually what are crippling us. These shoes have changed the way we naturally evolved to run, putting pressure on joints that aren't accustomed to that kind of stress. Arch-support contributes to weakening foot arches thus contributing to flat-feet.
I have to give this book five stars because it did for me about the human body and fitness what Omnivore's dilemma did for me with diet, total paradigm shift. Michael Pollan totally caught me off guard with his proposal that eating was a moral act, while McDougall proposes that the health of the mind and body are linked to athleticism. While Pollan made me aware of issues surrounding the meat industry that are repulsive, this book actually makes me want to be vegetarian.
From an anthropological perspective we should look at our bodies as stone age relics that evolved over millions of years on a certain diet that was based primarily on fruits, nuts and vegetables with occasional meat.
"You don't stop running because you are old, you get old because you stop running" ...more
I think what Richard Dawkins was trying to attempt was noble however I am not convinced that he acompolished what he set out to achieve. Essentially tI think what Richard Dawkins was trying to attempt was noble however I am not convinced that he acompolished what he set out to achieve. Essentially the thesis of this book was a persuasive attempt to convince the reader that science can be very poetic and awe-inspiring, which I agree with. I even cheered him on hoping to find some new way of looking at science through a new paradigm. But, instead it felt more like a book of what science is and isn't and that didn't really inspire me much because that wasn't what I thought his original intention was. ...more
Painfully uncomfortable. One doesn't have to agree with the authors or the whole field of evolutionary psychology to be thoughtfully provoked. The expPainfully uncomfortable. One doesn't have to agree with the authors or the whole field of evolutionary psychology to be thoughtfully provoked. The explanatory power of this theory is so convincing that I think that is what most people will have a problem with.
There is something troubling about anything that has an explanation for almost anything. After religion, which has a metaphorical reason for everything, this field is a close second for explaining why humans do what they do in a very frustratingly simple way.
It had a rattling effect on me and my perceptions. This will definitely shake those who already have an accepted view of reality. The religious and idealistic will likely find it the most disturbing. After all, who wants their entire existence summed up as nothing more than the desire to pass on ones genes....more
Astonishing book. I had a vague notion already of the brain's adaptive abilities but never to this extent. Essentially the core of this book is about Astonishing book. I had a vague notion already of the brain's adaptive abilities but never to this extent. Essentially the core of this book is about the dynamic relationship between the brain and its enviroment, that the two can actually change each other. The enviroment, culture, TV, books, music, can affect the development of the brain and the brain can change those. The verstatility of the human brain is called "Plasticity" which according to the author is both a blessing and a curse. It means that we can both break bad habbits and easily start new ones by affecting the wiring of our brain. It can take the brain up to 6 months to re-wire itself. This is the threshold of how much repitition it may take when starting something new to start noticing progress. Some of the most intriguing aspects of the book to me were about the recovery of stroke-patients, who re-learned basic motor-function by approaching it as a new born baby would, very slowly and gradually. With intenste concentration and focus stroke patients could eventually re-learn to move their limbs enough to live a normal unassisted life.
Older people can keep their brain functioning stronger by learning a new language. Which even though it is only a simple new skill actually benefits almost the entire spectrum of brain function capability. If old people remain active learners and exercise they can keep their minds from deteriorating.
Autism, ADHD and some other learning disability might have a strong enviromental component that may be activating those genes because of external stimulus. However, with careful exercises many of these disability can be overcome through "Brain Rehabilitation". Using concetration activities done each day through out the week patients have had been able to make tremendous progress in overcoming these disabilities.
People with more education for some reason are able to recover better from strokes and other related brain-damage. This is in part believed to be because those who have spent dedicated time educating themselves have more neural pathways that the brain can re-route things through when other parts of the brain are damaged.
Another aspect of why Television might be harmful for children is not completely the content but the medium. The way TV shows are transmitted appears to have a powerful affect on the wiring of the child's brain. It encourages the brain to be more receptive to messages delivered quickly, sporadically, loud, and with the child only passively engaged. After years of early childhood exposure to this the child then is unable to concentrate or focus at school where the delivery method of education is slower and less attention grabbing than television
Culture also can affect the wiring of our brain. After about the age of 40 the brain switches into a mode of cultural preservation and becomes much more rigid to anything that may threaten to change it. Hence older-people become the cultural guardians of a society. It is also why many societies are slow to change. After years of being indoctrinated in one culture the brain does eventually settle into it and seeks to get rid of challenges to it. This can help explain a lot of the volatility of global politics right now as never before in history have so many cultures been brought so close together so quickly.
The best rule of thumb for the human brain is "Use it or lose it", like a muscle the brain reaches optimal function through a combination of excercises, enriched enviroment, and healthy diet.
This book did for me and my views on the environmentalist movement what Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, did for my view of the food indThis book did for me and my views on the environmentalist movement what Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, did for my view of the food industry. Brilliant book, clearly demonstrating that if we haven't found a workable solution it isn't because their isn't one, we just haven't tried very hard. His ideas on what we can do to live in balance with the environment are a huge and important step to stop the raping of the earth. He believes that instead of focusing on the end waste products we need to start at the beginning of the waste--pollution-chain. It is a design error, the materials we use could be much better....more
A fascinating read about the frontiers of modern science today. If the last thing you learned anything new about science was a college or High School A fascinating read about the frontiers of modern science today. If the last thing you learned anything new about science was a college or High School science class than this book is for you. It will get you up-to-date on where science is and where it is trying to go. The anomalies addressed in this book will re-spark your curiosity. I always appreciate books like this one because it is not a technical manual and it barely scratches the surface of the topics covered but it captures your interest. It makes you want to learn more. And in my opinion anything that makes you want to learn is a worthy investment of time. ...more
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